Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

Since the election, the Government has announced a jobs initiative, a jobs protection budget and an action plan for jobs, all of which were meant to create approximately 100,000 jobs by 2016. However, when one considers the Government's own statistics in a no-spin zone, the number of people who are unemployed continues to rise. The quarterly national household survey released last week shows the number of Irish people in employment has fallen by approximately 38,900, which is a damning indictment of the Government's initiatives over the past 15 months. Moreover, the unemployment rate has risen from approximately 14.1% to 14.8%, employment has fallen in nine of the 14 economic sectors over the past year and in a highly worrying trend, long-term unemployment has increased by a further 25,000, from 7.8% to 8.9%. Consequently, the position continues to worsen significantly for many people.

The Taoiseach had stated he wanted his Ministers to become obsessed with jobs.

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